If John Edwards stays in the race, he might, in the end, become nothing other than the Southern white man who stood in the way of the black man. And for that, he would deserve a lifetime of liberal condemnation.

Well, you can imagine how John Edwards' many friends in the Libbysphere took that one. Jane Smiley:

When I read Lawrence O'Donnell's post calling John Edwards a "loser" and threatening a lifetime of infamy if he doesn't get out of the race, I immediately went to O'Donnell's bio to see his party affiliation. I was sure it would say "R" -- but it didn't. It didn't say anything.

Let me get this straight. Jane Smiley doesn't know what party affiliation Lawrence O'Donnell has, and she's opining on politics on the HuffPo?

However, I am fairly sure in my own mind that Karl Rove paid him to write that post. Look at it this way: O'Donnell attacks the only candidate in the race with explicitly progressive policy positions, and the only candidate in the race who hasn't accepted corporate money, and the only candidate in the race who understands how corporations are poisoning American politics and American life with their unrestrained power and influence.

2. Edwards has pretty much single handedly driven the populist, anti-poverty message this campaign, which both Clinton and Obama have been heavily appropriating of late. Just as Bill Richardson made a valuable contribution with his "no residual forces in Iraq" promise in the debate, so too has Edwards dragged everyone kicking and screaming onto the "dangers of corporate America" turf. That has value, and that value is ongoing unless you want to boil the slog to November down to simple horserace politics.

Translation: He's attacking my guy!

Look, it's simple. O'Donnell's right. The Breck Girl hasn't got a prayer of winning in this election. His economic populism isn't even selling with liberals. Edwards got 17% of the vote in New Hampshire, less than half of what Hillary and Obama each received.

That's not to say that the "Creepy Liar" isn't wrong too. The assumption that Edwards' supporters would automatically shift over to Obama is far from assured. It's certainly plausible that Obama and Edwards are both getting the "Stop Hillary" vote, but it's hardly racist for Edwards to stay in the race; it's just self-delusional.